Keg tapping assembly

ABSTRACT

A keg tapping assembly comprising a tavern unit having two prongs which are sleeve-like with tapered ends to unseat the two spring closed valves of a permanently attached keg unit detachably connected to the top central hole of a keg, upon insertion into the keg unit. The invention embodies an attachment having two bores through which said prongs are detachably fitted and having serrated terminal connections onto which hoses may be slip-fitted for attachment, respectively, to a tap rod insertable in the top center opening and to a valved outlet connection at the bottom of the keg. By simply unplugging the tavern unit from the keg unit and plugging it into said attachment it is selectively usable on either a conventional single connection tap or on the older double connection tap.

United States Patent 1191 Zucconi Jan. 1, 1974 KEG TAPPING ASSEMBLY [76]Inventor: Homer R. Zucconi, 419 Speer St., f Reeves N. Belle Vernon Pa5012 Assistant Exammen-Dawd A. Sc'herbel Atl0rneyWilliam J. Ruano [22]Filed: Oct. 20, 1971 21 Appl. No.: 190,796 ABSTRACT A keg tappingassembly comprising a tavern unit hav- 52 11.5. C1 222/394, 137/209,222/4007 99 two prongs which are Sleeve-like with tapered ends 51 Int.Cl B65d 83/00 to unseat the two spring closed valves of a P [58] Fieldof Search 222/394, 399, 400.7; "emly attached keg detachably Connected ithe 2 220/5 R, DIG 1 top central hole of a keg, upon insertion into thekeg unit; The invention embodies an attachment having 55 ReferencesCited two bores through which said prongs are detachably UNI-TED STATESPATENTS fitted and having serrated terminal connections onto 3 090 5305/1963 Pee S 222/400 7 vvhlch hoses may be slip-fitted for attachment,respec- 2 226 lO9 12/1940 so ;iIIIIIIIIII"IIIIIIIIIILIII'ZO/DIG.1 twelyto a tap rod msertable the center opening 3:228:41 l/l966 Stevens, Jr...222/4007 and l a "I Outlet connecnon at the bottom of the 3.550.81812/1970 Johnston v 222 4007 By s'mply unplugging the tavern unit fromthe 1,237.144 8/19l7 Allen 137 209 x keg unit and P g it into Saidattachment it is lectively usable on either a conventional sin le con-FO-REIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS nection tap or on the older doubleconnection tap. 5.254 5/1878 Germany. 137/209 4992 3/1898 Great Britain137/209 1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTED H974 BEER' his ATTORNEY KEGTAPPING ASSEMBLY This invention relates to an attachment for enablingthe use of a conventional tapping attachment for application to twodifferent tapping systems, namely, one in which a single tappingconnection is made at the top (central) hole axially of the keg, or toone in which a connection is made not only at the top central hole, butalso at a bottom side hole, which double connections have been used formany years in the industry.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,228,413 illustrates and describes the former, singletype of connection, comprising a permanently mounted keg unit attachedto the top central hole and having two, spring-biased one way valveswhich are normally closed but which are unseated by plugging in a twopronged plug-in tavern unit which is illustrated with some modificationin FIG. 2 of the present application. 7

An outstanding disadvantage of such type of connection. is that itcannot be used on beer keps involving a one way conventional air valveextending through the top central hole for introducing air and asecondary connection at the bottom side portion of the keg from whichbeer is drawn. While such double connection, which has been used for avery long time in the beer industry, involves some difficulty ininstallation, it still remains as a superior type from the standpoint ofsanitation since it avoids contamination of the beer as often occursfrom the plastic hose which is attached to the keg unit and extendsthrough the beer along the entire axis of the barrel; 7

Therefore, taverns that have adopted the more modernsingle connectiontapping device, described in the aforesaid patent, have oftenencountered the necessity of tapping a two connection keg in which eventit has been necessary to completely disconnect and disassemble theabovementioned single connecting device and to become involved in thedifficult and time consuming task of making entirely new air and beerconnections, which may have to be disconnected perhaps on the succeedingkeg, which may be of the single connection type made at only one openingat the top.

An object of the present invention is to overcome the abovenameddisadvantages by employing the more modern single connection attachmentfor selective use either as a sole attachment for -a single connectionat the top of the keg, as described in said patent, or for use for adouble connection to kegs having one opening at the top and the otheropening at the bottom side of the keg, so as to completely eliminate thetime-consuming task of completely disassembling and changing the air andbeer systems when going from a single connection keg to a doubleconnection keg, or vice versa.

Other objects and advantages will become more apparent from a study ofthe following description taken with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view, partly broken away, of a system for abeer keg embodying the attachment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, elevational view of the tavern plug-in unitnormally used for a single connection keg;

FIG. 3 shows an attachment embodying the present invention into whichthe prong elements of the device FIG. 5 shows a single connection kegunit into which the unit of FIG. 2 is plugged.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawing, showing a doubleconnection key, numeral 1 denotes a keg of wood or metal containing beeror any other liquid. A conventional tap unit has a handle 2 and abuiltin spring-closed valve (not shown). By turning handle 2, the unitis sealed and the valve is opened to introduce compressed air into thekeg through a hose 3. A second connection 4 is made at the side of thebottom of the keg, through which connection beer under pressure isextracted from the keg and flows upwardly through flexible hose 5. Thetop end of hoses 3 and 5 are slip-fitted to serrated connecting sleeves6 and 7, which sleeves have external screw threads at the top ends whichare threadedly connected to internally threaded boxres l3 and 14 formedat the bottom of an attachment, generally denoted by numeral 8,embodying the present invention. Sleeves 6 and 7 are off center relativeto bores 11 and 12. Shut-off valve 4a is provided.

Portions of the outer surface 9 of the attachment are preferablyknurled, as shown in FIG. 1, and the top outer surface thereof isextemally threaded at 10 so that it may be screw threadedly connected tothe internal threads of a connecting ring 15.

FIG. 2 shows a tavern plug-in unit of a single connection keg tappingdevice, generally of the construction described in detail in theaforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,228,413 for plugging into a keg unit shown inFIG. 5 of different construction to that in FIG. 1. Generally stated,the tavern plug-in unit of FIG. 2 comprises tubular prongs 16 and 17which are beveled at the bottom ends to make substantially a pointconnection with two one-way valves 25, 26 (FIG. 5) biased closed bysprings 27 in valve body 24 attached to the keg unit plugged into thecentral top opening 23 of the keg, in the case of a single connectiontapping device, so that when the connecting device of FIG. 2 is used inits normal way as a single connecting device, it is inserted in such kegunit and, in so doing, prongs 16 and 17 will unseat the two springbiased ,valves 25, 26 so as to permit introduction of compressed airthrough terminal 20 and hollow sleeve, prong 16 and valve 26 to allowbeer to flow from the keg upwardly through hose 28, sleeve 17,

valve body 18 and threaded beer outlet connection 19 to which may beconnected a flexible hose 22 leading to the beer dispensing spigot (notshown).

In operation, assume that the keg tapping device of FIG. 2 is connecteddirectly to the single connection keg unit of FIG. 5 in the normalmanner as described in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,228,413. If thetavern keeper now wishes to dispense beer by a two connection method,which includes a tapping unit and handle 2 as shown in FIG. 1, asconventionally used for many years in the beer industry, he simplyunscrews the knurled nut or ring 15, and withdraws the tavern unit shownin FIG. 2 from the keg unit, withdrawing prongs l6 and 17 from the kegunit and plugs such prongs into the attachment 8 of the presentinvention (FIG. 3) by inserting prongs 16 and 17 through closely fittingbores 11 and 12 to provide an assembly as shown in FIG. 1, so that uponconnecting hoses 3 and S to terminals 6 and 7, a complete dispensingsystem is provided.

Now compressed air is introduced through hose 21, terminal connection20, prong l6, bore 11, terminal connection 6, hose 3 connected to theconventional Of course, if the next keg to be dispensed should have thesingle connection keg unit of FIG. 5 employing only the tavern unit ofFIG. 2, the tavern keeper simply unscrews ring 15 from the threads andinserts prongs 16 and 17 into the two valved keg unit of FIG. 5 and thentightens ring screw threaded to the keg unit which is permanentlyattached to the top of the keg as it arrives from the brewery.

In short, all the tavern keeper need do when changing from a single tapconnection keg to a double tap connection kegis simply to plug theprongs 16 and 17 of the tavern unit to attachment 8, as shown in FIG. 1,to convert the system for use on a double tap connection keg, as shownin FIG. 1.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a novel, highly efficient andextremely inexpensive attachment, for easily and quickly convertingbeerdispensing sys tems, that is, from the conventional keg having a singletapping device to one for use on a keg having two tap connections,simply by plugging in an attachment of the present invention and makingthe double connection through a pair of detachable hoses.

While I have illustrated and described a single specific embodiment ofmy invention, it will be understood that this is by way of illustrationonly and that various changes and modifications may be contemplatedwithin the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. An assembly for selective tapping of kegs having either single ordouble valve keg units for sealing the liquid contents under pressure,comprising a tavern unit including a valve body having air inlet andliquid outlet connections leading into a pair of parallel sleeves havingprong-like pointed ends and having an internally threaded, ring closureelement; in combination with an attachment having a pair of parallelbores into which said prongs are closely and detachably fitted, saidattachment having external threads at one end onto which said internalthreads of said ring closure element may be screwed to form an airtightseal, and a pair of terminal connections at the other end of saidattachment, said terminal connections being laterally offset from thecenters of said bores to provide greater spacing beteeen the terminalconnections, A tap unit detachably connected to the top central openingof the keg along its longitudinal axis, which unit includes a singleone-way valve for introducing air under pressure into said keg, and anoutlet connection and valve at the bottom side opening of said keg fordrawing the pressurized liquid contents out of the keg, a conduitconnecting one of said terminal connections of said attachment to saidtavern unit, and a flexible conduit connecting the other of saidterminal connections to said outlet connection, whereby said attachment,conduits and tap unit may be selectively removed from the assembly as asingle unit when it is desired to plug said tavern unit directly into atwo valved type of keg unit instead of said single valve type.

1. An assembly for selective tapping of kegs having either single ordouble valve keg units for sealing the liquid contents under pressure,comprising a tavern unit including a valve body having air inlet andliquid outlet connections leading into a pair of parallel sleeves havingprong-like pointed ends and having an internally threaded, ring closureelement; in combination with an attachment having a pair of parallelbores into which said prongs are closely and detachably fitted, saidattachment having external threads at one end onto which said internalthreads of said ring closure element may be screwed to form an airtightseal, and a pair of terminal connections at the other end of saidattachment, said terminal connections being laterally offset from thecenters of said bores to provide greater spacing between the terminalconnections, a tap unit detachably connected to the top central openingof the keg along its longitudinal axis, which unit includes a singleone-way valve for introducing air under pressure into said keg, and anoutlet connection and valve at the bottom side opening of said keg fordrawing the pressurized liquid contents out of the keg, a conduitconnecting one of said terminal connections of said attachment to saidtavern unit, and a flexible conduit connecting the other of saidterminal connections to said outlet connection, whereby said attachment,conduits and tap unit may be selectively removed from the assembly as asingle unit when it is desired to plug said tavern unit directly into atwo valved type of keg unit instead of said single valve type.